3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.—The words of God from Habakkuk 2:3
Today is Day 11 in the “40 Days of Prayer.“ I’ve been praying and I hope you’ve been praying, too. Believers from all denominations, from all backgrounds, from all places across the United States need to join together in prayer.
40 Days of Prayer is a non-partisan call to fervent prayer for our elections.
We are in desperate days as a nation as the spiritual, moral and
financial fabric of our nation is disintegrating around us.
Believers need to pray as never before.
America’s National Prayer Committee and its member
organizations are putting out a call to pray 40 days prior
to the elections (September 28th through November 6th).
Please click on the photo for more information.
You may be among the countless tens of thousands of Christians in the United States who have earnestly and fervently prayed for a great sweeping revival for many years. In joining in prayer, perhaps you took your cue from Dr. Bill Bright.
Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, has touched the lives of many men and women of our generation through his belief that the Lord will yet visit this nation in great revival power. Dr. Bright wrote about his own experience with prayer and fasting for spiritual awakening in his book The Coming Revival:1
The longer I fasted, the more I sensed the presence of the Lord. The Holy Spirit refreshed my soul and spirit as never before. Biblical truths leaped at me from the pages of God’s Word. My faith soared as I cried out to and rejoiced in His presence.
Early one morning after three weeks of fasting, I received the assurance from God that He would visit America in transforming, revival power. I found myself overcome with tears of gratitude...
As I knelt before the Lord at my favorite chair in our living room, I was sobered by the conditions that the Holy Spirit had placed on His promise to send revival.
These conditions seemed to match the spirit of 2 Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.With this Scripture strongly in my mind, I sensed the Holy Spirit was telling me that millions of believers must seek God with all of their hearts in fasting and prayer before He will intervene to save America. I was impressed by the Spirit to pray that two million believers will humble themselves by seeking God in forty-day fasts. (pp. 35, 37)
“Okay,” you may say to me. “I’ve got a bit of a problem. I’ve prayed for revival for some time and I don’t see any evidence that God intends to answer my prayers.”
I’ve prayed for revival a long time, too. In fact, revival has been in the forefront of my prayers since the autumn of 1978—for 34 years. I haven’t given up and neither should you.
The Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post indicates that for every revelation of His might and power, God has an appointed time. So, when we pray for revival, we pray in expectation and anticipation that God will answer our prayers in His appointed time.
We also need to call America to a humble seeking of God, to a turning from our wicked ways, and to a repentance for the long list of our corporate and personal sins. If we do that, we fulfill the instructions in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Yes, I know that God gave that promise to Israel. But, remember, we who believe in Jesus, and have received God’s gift of salvation through Jesus, have become grafted into Israel. As the Apostle Paul wrote about us Gentiles in Romans 11:17:
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root...
God’s promise to Israel certainly applies to us today. This gives us all the more reason to pray—in fact, to fast and pray—in anticipation of the appointed time that God has reserved for a great, sweeping revival: a coming to life again.
Please join me in praying and please keep praying!
In fact, will you pray with me right now?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
We lay claim to the promise You have given those You love in 2 Chronicles 7:14. We long to call our nation to humbly seek You, to confess our sins, and to turn from our wicked ways. We believe that You will hear from heaven and heal our land.
We also believe that, in response to our earnest and fervent prayers, You have reserved an appointed time for a great revival in our land. We long for that time to come sooner rather than later. We humbly ask You to send Your Holy Spirit to bring our nation alive once again. We pray for this that we may love You with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.
Thank You. Loving Father, for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1 I invite you to click on this link to purchase a copy of this book from Amazon.com.
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